Monday, July 26, 2010

hallelujah!

i passed my glucose test, which means i don't have gestational diabetes!

i wasn't worried that i did, but they test all preggos for it these days, and if your results are over the cut off even by one point, you have to go back and do the whole thing again, only you have to fast for 12 hours prior, then they take your blood 3 times over 3 hours while you wait at the hospital, and the first test seems a little faulty because something like 2/3 of women fail the first test, and then pass the second one. sounds pretty obnoxious, if you ask me!

anyhow, the whole process wasn't so bad, except getting my blood drawn. that pinch of the needle, ooooohhhhh, makes my skin crawl. i just hate it. every time. and i have some serious bruising on my arm where they took the blood out. really folks, there's gotta be an easier way to do this!

but all in all, i'm very relieved. with the upcoming move and all that it entails, the last thing i need right now is another something to keep track of.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

really?

so i've been looking into which doctors our insurance covers in owatonna (where we're moving to) and i've discovered that owatonna only has 3 obgyns - all male. ummm, really?!?! i find this hard to believe that there is not a single female obgyn in this town of 24,000 plus.

maybe this makes me a little conservative, but the only man i want so involved with my body (as is required for birthing and such) is ben. and he sells paint. not so qualified at baby catching. (although, if worst-case-scenario came up, and he had to, i'm sure he'd do an excellent job.)

which means i'm now looking into the obgyns at mayo clinic in rochester - since our insurance has a number of covered obgyns that work out of mayo, and as long as there is even one single doctor within a 30 mile radius from where ben and i live, they won't even consider adding another doctor to their in-network list. not that there's even a female doctor for me to want added.

(my mom said she wanted to do cartwheels at the thought of me giving birth at the best hospital in the entire nation. i'm still a little miffed that we'll probably have to make the 45 minute commute for the remainder of our check-ups and the big-day itself, but it is rather comforting to know that at least it is such a reputable place.)

but the real kicker? one of the doctors covered at mayo shares a connection with this baby already: remember the Petra dream? well she shares the same first name. for realsies. (and i think my subconscious has a real sense of humor, because of all the pictures of the doctors i can go to at mayo, i like Petra's the best...)

so uh.... we'll see who i end up with, but i have a feeling i know who it'll end up being :P

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

so much for having the nursery done....

some time after we found out about little baby mushroom's impending arrival, ben and i started talking about moving back to minnesota to be close to family again.

the way we figured it, ben would contact the district manager back in minnesota, let him know that we were interested in moving back to the area, and that if any job openings came up out there, ben would like to put his name in and be considered for the job. originally, ben had planned to call sometime in august, and we both figured that there wouldn't be any openings or that we wouldn't move back that way till a few months after the baby is born. (why we figured this, i'm not completely sure. maybe just our ideal of how it would work? who knows.)

anyhow, i started to worry, though - i didn't want to end up moving too close to the due date, and for one reason or another, ben ended up calling the district manager for southern minnesota sometime back in june.

turns out there was a lot of movement happening in that area, and many possible openings for ben to consider applying for... long story short, a lot of doors were opened, there was one store/town in particular that we really wanted to be in, but it seemed it might be a bit of a stretch for ben to get the position. i'm convinced that God is behind it all, because sure enough, the position ben wanted opened up. he applied for it, and was given the official offer on monday.

we're still waiting on the final verdict for when the district manager for wyoming will have a replacement ready so that we can leave, but they want us back in minnesota by august 1st. we'll probably end up leaving by the 29th or 30th of july, but it's possible we won't get out till the 1st or 2nd.

and now we're in crunch-mode. boxes are everywhere, we're packing up as much as we feel we can live without for the next week and a half, trying to figure out a place to live (which isn't the easiest from over 1000 miles away, but with ben's parents close by to the town that we'll be moving to, they have been a huge blessing in checking out the area for us and looking at rentals and helping us figure it all out. thanks again, momma & poppa B!!!), i'll need to find a new doctor, oh yeah, and we'll have to re-set-up the nursery. i'm okay with it... we're both just so very excited to be close to family again.

so if i don't find time to update in the next week and a half, well, i hope you'll understand.

Friday, July 16, 2010

three's company...

i only have one 3rd of this pregnancy left to go!

(i originally posted that i'm a 3rd of the way done, but then ben corrected my preggo-brain's lack of math skills telling me, "you're two-thirds of the way done." whoops! thanks, hun!)

exactly 3 months left to go (well... presumably - you know how it is - but if baby IS born on the due date, ben and i will have been married for exactly 3 years and 3 months), and tomorrow i start my 3rd trimester.

this is crazy!

and in 3 days, i get to celebrate this baby with a bunch of friends (oh boy, do i love a party!)

i really need to take a new bump picture soon - probably on sunday when i'm all dolled up for the festivities... (i'm so excited!)

:D

PS - AND (in keeping with today's "three-theme") i've encountered and had to terminate 3 of those horrid, ugly, vile, disgusting, evil creatures known as "spiders" - blech! i think spider-man is the only spider who should be allowed to live. (mostly because he's fictional and played by tobey mcguire, who's a total cutie. although if i ran into him in real life, all webby and climbing walls and junk, i'd probably want him killed off too.... whoops?)

well, and i should admit, i had help with the execution of the second spider. it was dangling right in front of me as i stood up from grabbing something off the floor. i was very relieved that i didn't stand up into the blasted thing - it would have been in my hair, and i wouldn't even have known! i shrieked in pure terror, and thankfully the gracious lady i was working with today came and saved me. but the first and last i managed to dispatch of myself.

the last one was just an itsy bitsy spider, and i had no problem killing it. the thing was so small in all proportions that it almost looked cute... almost.

the first one i was pretty proud of my mcguyver skills in that i managed to trap it in a beer bottle - and this little bugger was crafty! kept trying to crawl away, and almost crawled ON me. :::shudders::: but i was victorious! i found that practically empty beer bottled (there were a few drops left), managed to capture him in it and tape off his only route of escape, leaving him to get drunk and die in the bottom of the bottle. peta might hate me, but i'm okay with it.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

the great disappearing act!!!

i've started to notice that my ankles are beginning to vanish... although i am quite happy to report that i haven't entered full on cankle mode just yet, as there is still recognizable definition between my calves and my feet, but i anticipate i'll be arriving there soon enough.

my feet don't feel too bad - i'm mostly in flip-flops or crocs, or occasionally i'll wear the one or two pairs of cute flats that still fit comfortably.

but i think if i had any hair on my feet at all, i could definitely be a model for hobbits' foot wear. especially after the long car ride we took to and from bozeman this weekend to visit christina - i would look at my feet, and i could instantly see they were swollen, complete with little sausage toes.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

countdowns!

less than 100 days to go, and next week i'll be entering the 3rd trimester... i can't believe how quickly it's gone already! and we still have the rest of our lives to flash by - it's terrifying! :P

tomorrow ben and i are driving up to bozeman to visit christina, and i'll finally get to meet addie. i can barely contain myself (and i worry i won't sleep a wink tonight).

next sunday is the baby shower, and i'm really excited for that too - i love a good party with yummy food and great people!

and then four days after the baby shower, i have my next dr's appointment, complete with glucose test (the glucose part i'm not looking forward too - they'll have to draw blood. blech.)

i've been nesting like crazy lately - trying very adamantly to keep the house tidy and picked up, and baking like there's no tomorrow. (a few days ago it was hazelnut rum brownies. yesterday night it was veggie pizza, with a little help from jiffy, of course. tonight i'll be finishing off some chicken-mozzarella raviolis i made awhile ago and froze. there was extra filling leftover too, but i'll be adding spinach and pesto to make some more ravioli with. and then a creamy garlic and roasted red pepper sauce to top it off.... ooh yum!)

i'm glad i can give ben some quality meals and a clean house while i can.... i imagine the first few months after baby's arrival will be a little bit.... lacking? in both departments.

Monday, July 5, 2010

feeling slugish...

there's so much i want to get done today.

this post really has very little to do with baby mushroom... (although earlier this morning i felt quite the concerto of kicking. it was pure bliss.)

i want to get the house all tidied up and super cleaned, because i know how much that would mean to ben.

i need to go buy some ground beef and make him hamburger helper for lunch, because i promised i'd bring him lunch, and he specifically requested it. (can you tell i like to keep my husband happy?) :P

i want to go to the gym, because it's good for me, and i think i sleep better when i do...

i want to work on some painting ideas that i've been having, but i'm hesitant to start new projects just yet.

i want to work on another artsy/sewing project i've been meaning to do since last summer, but have yet to actually accomplish.

i want to eat the rest of the kettle corn we bought at one of the stands yesterday that was fresh made before our eyes, and oh so delicious, but i know it wouldn't be the healthiest choice. i also want to eat more of the cookies i made for ben that he's so graciously sharing with me, but again with the healthy (or lack there of). :\

and i have this tendency to overwhelm myself with too many to-do's on my list, and that's where i'm at right now. there's so much i want to accomplish with this day off, and i know if i get moving now, i could actually accomplish a good chuck of it (and if i had gotten out of bed earlier, i could have accomplished all of it), but instead i put off and procrastinate, and i don't even know why, because i want to do these things, really i do. but instead i just keep wasting time on the computer.

it's an obnoxiously frustrating flaw in my character that i'm still working on (though not always so successfully it seems...) bugger. :(

Saturday, July 3, 2010

fruit change day!

baby is now the size of an eggplant - wooo! (i feel like i should make some eggplant parmesan tonight to celebrate baby's graduation to the next fruit size, but i've already gone grocery shopping, and with the 4th of july festivities going on this weekend, downtown is crazy-busy. i've no desire to endure that headache again if i don't have to.... maybe later this week, because now i'm seriously craving some eggplant parmesan.)

AND! ....

i'm 25 weeks pregnant!
(i suppose it's time to take another photo of the bump?)

Week 25
Got a dark line running down your belly? That's your linea nigra, and it's totally normal. Pregnancy hormones might also be making your complexion a little spotty. Switching to oil-free, water-based, noncomedogenic makeup should help clear things up.

being fair skinned, i'm happy to report that i definitely don't have a dark brown stripe down the middle of my belly, but there's certainly a very faint variant of "linea nigra" showing up. ben sees it, too, so it's not just my imagination.

and my check-up appointment on wednesday went fine. it was the first appointment where we didn't get an ultrasound, but we did still get to hear baby's heartbeat, and i feel the little bugger moving around quite often now. it's still weird to me if i think about it for too long, but that doesn't stop me from loving it. i feel so much more connected to baby when i can actually feel for realsies the movements and kicks and bumps and whatever else it is that little mushroom is up to in there... ben finally felt some more definite movement too - he got a huge kick the other night. i told mushroom to keep kicking dad now, as this is the only time we would encourage such behavior.

the only bummer to the appointment was the shocker that i've gained 12 pounds this past month. i definitely don't feel like i've eaten that much or exercised that little, but i guess the scale doesn't lie?

i really want to be as healthy as i can - exercise/diet (as in, what i eat on a regular basis, and definitely not the act of trying to lose weight)/body image/etc. - for both this baby and for me. i know the closer i stay to the 25-35 pound weight gain guideline for pregnancy, the healthier this baby will be, but i'd be lying if i didn't also admit that i'm afraid to gain too much weight. so a lot of this desire to be healthy is for me as well; wanting to be in a healthy routine now of eating foods that are good to me (instead of all the processed junk out there) and exercising regularly/staying more active. the life of a couch potato is not one that i envy, and yet so often, it is so alluring...

it's a gorgeous day out - 64 degrees, but the sun is shining full force today, so it feels much warmer. there's a sweet breeze blowing through the window, glorious blue skies, and as i look out to the field/hill that is next to our house, i see the tall wild grasses dancing in the summer air and the cat sitting in the window. it's a perfect day. i get so much more fulfillment just watching the grass and the cat and hearing the birds than i do from staring at the boob tube (even if it is a really good show/movie/etc...)

well, i should probably make lunch and get some to ben... we may not be having eggplant today, but we are having egg salad .... ohhhkaaayyyy, not the same, but close enough! :P


Friday, July 2, 2010

tums, tums, tums tums!

the heartburn has been getting pretty obscene lately. i'll wake up in the middle of the night feeling like it's pukey-time, as if the morning sickness fairy heard i had skipped out on her services, and was paying me a belated visit.

(no spewing ever did occur, but gee golly, did i ever feel awful.)

and it was combined with that acidic filled burning sensation in my chest and esophagus that i've come to understand is heartburn, not nausea or morning sickness (although it often did make me feel so horribly nauseous).

when my parents had been visiting, and i was feeling an icky-poo similar to this (and yet in retrospect, not quite the same) my mom gave me one of her seltzer waters to sip on, and it seemed to help?

so i bought some seltzer water to have on hand for when the feeling returned, but i think this is a whole new monster than the one i felt before. and as much as i wanted it to work, i think the seltzer water made it worse.

i'd never had heartburn prior to pregnancy. i had no clue that tums were a valid source of relief. i only knew them for their cheesy commercials and as something i didn't need.

yesterday, i finally got me some tums. i think they're my new favorite. that's right heartburn, try to take me down now.... ha!